Busy Bees Nurseries Reviews 

Lovely nursery, staff build lovely bonds with babies and are supportive of children's development!

Great place, great people and a great setting for our little girl to go learn and flourish. Dealing with all the staff gives you great confidence that you’ve picked the best place for your child.

Always so welcoming and friendly, happy to answer any questions I have.
My son is so when he goes in for his sessions

Absolutely amazing nursery! 💕 The staff are so caring, friendly and genuinely go above and beyond for the children. My little one is always so happy there and it’s lovely to see how much he has grown and developed since starting. I have complete confidence in the team and know he is safe, loved and well cared for every day. Couldn’t recommend them highly enough!

I recently dropped my son off for his first one-hour settling-in session. When I picked him up, he was shaking, visibly distressed, and had wet himself. Unfortunately, none of the staff had noticed that he had had an accident or recognised that he needed to use the toilet.

There was one lady in charge of the whole room with 2 younger staff members who didn't appear to have much involvement at all. Following this experience, I have decided that I will not be using this nursery.

We recently pulled my son out of this nursery after nearly two years, it has massively gone downhill, the two incredible managers and around 10 other staff members all left within a period of a few months - something happened and we don’t know what, but Busy Bees management then employed a number of agency workers/external Busy Bees staff from other sites to try and keep the place running.

My 2 year old son was regularly left in soiled nappies when we collected him at the end of his session, he was attacked on numerous occasions by the same child and not one staff member was able to keep them separated or supervise properly to make sure it stopped, he was injured outside in the garden & because he was unsupervised nobody was able to tell us what happened, we were not introduced to several staff members who were in charge of looking after him at the time, we complained to the area manager who then interviewed one of the staff members and accused me of lying saying that they didn’t say what they said to me.

In the end, we just pulled him out and went elsewhere, this place is an absolute disaster waiting to happen, I still have friends who children go there and honestly I think the place needs closing down.

By our last fortnight, the new manager of this site and the area manager resorted to just ignoring us, says it all!

All of the Busy Bees team are fantastic. The staff are all so knowledgeable and supportive and welcome you like a family. They helped our son flourish in his time here and our daughter has already developed so much in the short time she has been here. Would recommend to everyone.

Very happy, good staff and my child loves it

Please do your research before sending your baby here and follow your instincts! In 2024, my 1 year old baby girl was treated so badly at BusyBee Epsom. My child was collected with a dummy in her mouth and when we got home and took out her dummy, she had an open wound injury to her upper lip with swelling and her vest was stained with dried blood. I wasn't informed of her injury whilst I was at work or at collection as no incident report was made, despite both manager and assistant manager being on duty at that time of day. I called the manager immediately and she told me a bunch of nothing and kept apologising saying she would find out more information. My daughter was taken to A&E and had a confirmed concussion with projectile vomiting. Absolutely disgusting behaviour and lack of empathy from the assistant manager Shannon at that time. Apparently the staff member Zainab working with my daughter "forgot to report the incident" after my daughter fell face first on the garden floor. I reported it to ofsted and got a refund for the month cost I paid as I didn't take my child back there again. This place can't be trusted, it makes me nauseous every time I walk past it.

My daughter goes to Busy Bees Bamber Bridge and we could not have wished for a better experience. The staff are friendly, helpful and attentive. The manager has been excellent with help through our journey. Overall an excellent experience from start to finish.

Pros:
- the parent app is great
- Parking right in front of nursery
- In house outside space for different age children

decided after 2 weeks this nursery isn’t for us due to :
- rude/confrontational staff. Now I’m not saying it was everyone most of the ladies seemed lovely, however it was spoiled by the few
- Constant new people in the rooms, no continuity of staff through out the day - seemed like they had new people every week
- New staff not being briefed properly on who comes to pick up children nor their preferences eg nappies that were needed to be used
- No apology for wrong doing instead met with “we were going to do it” or no acknowledgment at all - especially when mentioned child was eating their snot while sucking dummy or dressed in damp clothing and evidently cold
- Child being inadequately dressed for outside time despite requesting staff to do so eg hat and coat
- Being sent home with a temperature which was collected using a thermometer with a glove in it. Once we arrived home child didn’t have a temperature. Child was dressed in multiple layers whole day without staff realising, which probably caused child to overheat. Child dressed in multiple layers due to being collected on 2 occasions damp, with damp socks and very cold so thought best to overdress than under as constantly ill.
- Weetabix for breakfast 3 days in a row. We didn’t really let the menu sink in when viewing the centre but when you see what your kid eats for £12.70 a day it hits then.

It’s a shame their 1 month notice period works in a way which traps you into their services for so long, especially after deciding only 2 weeks in their services are not for us. There is only so much you get to see in those 20 minutes you go view the centre and Ofcourse everyone puts on their best smile. However we appreciated the show put on for us with the nose cleaning and extra politeness put on by staff after submitting our notice, would’ve loved to see that energy the first few weeks when it matters the most.

My little girl loves to go to nursery, she really likes spending time with her key worker and pers in group. Staff is lovely and always happy to help and answer any questions. I couldn’t find better nursery for my kid☺️

Our nursery was taken over by busybees in the last few months (east village / Stratford in east London) and whilst the day to day didn’t change much immediately, some of the organisational things did - like instantly getting rid of the salary sacrifice method to pay for nursery, which seems punitive and ultimately makes it far more expensive for parents. It is worth parents knowing this upfront: many nurseries do accept SS so it’s incredibly non competitive. We would never have actively chosen a Busy Bees nursery for this reason.

Where it got bad, was when there was a mice infestation in the nursery. For clarity, I’m certainly not saying it was their fault for the mice infestation, but the way it’s been handled at a corporate level has been dreadful. They have offered to find alternative nurseries within their group, which is helpful, but still very disruptive both for the kids settling in and parents having to drop off/pick up, adding both cost and time versus what everyone signed up for.

Again, these things happen, but it’s been going on for 5 weeks now, with no end in sight and the communication has been fluffy at best. Given the amount of upheaval, one would expect a discount to be offered as goodwill. Initially, nothing was offered and some emails back to various parents were not in the tone one would expect, given it’s their service that is faltering. In the end, after multiple emails to senior management, they came back with a paltry 10%, which seems cheap given the tears at drop off in the beginning of the disruption, forced adjusted work schedule due to the longer commute and increased cost of getting to/from nursery, and all from a company that made over £50m in profit last year.

Very importantly, this 2* is aimed at the company busy bees, not the amazing staff in the nurseries. They are all in the same boat as the kids and parents, and have all been so welcoming to the kids, in my experience, to the temporary additions to the other busybees.

For those considering busybees, before this incident I would’ve given 4* and of course not every nursery will have a rodent problem, but you get to know the fabric of the machine behind the wonderful nursery staff when the going gets tough, and it’s been a total let down. Maybe those in middle management and the board room should step out from behind the keyboards and listen to what the parents are telling the front line workers, and perhaps the ill will could’ve been avoided.

The staff were not helpful at all. They don’t help your child with the transition period. Whilst I was there with my child for a settling in period, I saw a little girl crying for 40 minutes straight without a staff member approaching her or consoling her. After seeing that, I knew I couldn’t leave my child there. Once I cancelled, they didn’t even give my deposit back. Awful.

Wonderful staff who will do anything for your child

Lovely family vibe

Very recommended! My son loves this nursery! Staff and management are excellent!

I registered with busy bees but later made the decision to withdraw and arrange different childcare. For about 4 months, I was repeatedly sent invoices and payment reminders, and settling session info, despite emailing the centre manager, the finance team and the people sending the invoices. I think their administrative function is not well joined up.
I can't make any comment on the childcare though!

Since joining nursery, we have noticed such a lovely change in our daughter. She has become much more confident in socialising and playing with other children, and it has been wonderful to see her develop her little personality and independence.

She has also started using words like “please,” “thank you,” and “sorry” so naturally, which makes us very proud. The daily routine and the caring environment in her room have really supported her well-being and helped her feel happy, settled and secure.

We especially love hearing about all the creative activities she takes part in and seeing how much she enjoys exploring and learning new things. The free-play opportunities have also been fantastic, allowing her to use her imagination and learn at her own pace.

We are really happy with her progress since joining nursery and are so grateful to all the staff for the care, patience and encouragement they give her every day. ❤️

Busy bees was hands down the worst childcare decision I made.

I put my 10 month old son into the Busy Bees - Smalley Drive Oakwood branch and I regretted the 8 weeks he spent there. On his first full day, I got a call to say he experienced severe nappy rash (something he NEVER had before) and he was in such pain - he was screaming when he had to sit down and his intimate areas were bleeding. I have never been so mortified in my whole entire life and so distraught. On that day, we rang round all of the local nurseries to get a place at a different nursery ASAP. Luckily we managed to secure one really quickly and pulled him out 6 weeks later after the place became available.

On the settling in sessions, I was personally left alone with 4 babies whilst the staff filled out paperwork - something I was shocked with. It should have been a red flag for me then realistically.

After the nappy rash incident it didn’t stop there. Multiple times I picked my son up completely dirty (expected a little from being at nursery all day), nose full of snot & bogies and on a few occasions… covered in his own poo. One time his poo had gone all down his leg and trousers and was cold and hard - indicating that this had been missed HOURS earlier.

The staff were rude at times and unhelpful. Even after filing a complaint, the manager was useless. The staff there did not care about my son, his welfare or his development. I am shocked there hasn’t been a serious incident… one time I picked my son up and the ONE staff member that was in the room left approximately 20 sleeping babies and toddlers unattended to speak to parents. This happened for 20 minutes or so in and out.

The poo, nappy rash & general neglect was horrific and I would never ever recommend Busy Bees to anyone. Please, do not trust your children with this company.

Since moving nurseries my little one has NEVER had any of these issues - I have picked him up clean, well looked after and fed (occasionally picked my son up from Busy Bees and he was crying because he was hungry!).

I cannot say how dreadful our experience was.

My little boy is having the best time at Busy Bees in St Andrews. He has been there for 6 months now. I was so worried about him starting nursery but he settled in so quickly and absolutely adores his key worker Lauren, which makes us feel less of the parent guilt of sending him to nursery. Really glad we picked this nursery, staff are all lovely, children always seem happy and the nursery is always clean and a good temperature. They’ve catered really well to my boy’s CMPA, and he has done so well with eating, which we can attribute to the variety of dishes he has at nursery! We’ve always managed to get him in if needed on an extra day if something at work pops up. He has come on so well with his walking and talking and development in general. Thank you for making it so much easier to return back to work and for looking after our boy so well!